VIGIL - Lightning Strike
by etanunu
Summary: Set near the end of ATLA: They are fighters—warriors who helped the Avatar restore peace. But under the armor, Katara is a healer and Zuko is alone. A vulnerable moment, I think could have happened if Kataang wasn't end-game


VIGIL – Lightning Strike

 _Set near the end of ATLA: They are fighters—warriors who helped the Avatar restore peace. But under the armor, Katara is a healer and Zuko is alone. A vulnerable moment, I think could have happened if Kataang wasn't end-game._

X

The first night, I refused to leave his side.

After we beat Azula, I helped Zuko inside. He guided me the whole way while I held his weight up. I was taking him to his old room, he said, because he wasn't ready to go to the Fire Lord's chambers just yet. As soon as I set him down on the bed he passed out.

While I waited for the others I got to work on healing any internal bleeding. I had managed to stop most of it outside after the battle, but it was still dangerous. Just like with Aang, I had to take extra care with Zuko's wound.

General Iroh had been the first to arrive. Once he'd checked in on Zuko he ran off to "deal with pressing matters." The others were busy taking care of civilians and soldiers. I sat next to Zuko's bed through the rest of the night, making sure that the lightning wouldn't have any delayed affects. He saved me and he was my friend now, so I refused to let him die.

The only thing that clued me into the morning was a sudden loss of power from the moon. My hands were shaking, but I told myself it was okay. I had mended the broken ribs, so a bit of exhaustion was worth it.

His fingers twitched as the first rays of light hit the palace and I fell asleep.

X X X **Zuko** X X X

That first morning after the war officially ended, I woke up with Katara laying her arms and chin on the edge of my bed.

I immediately noticed the large water basin sitting on the nightstand and knew she spent all night healing me. Sweat stuck her hair to her face and neck. It even made her shirt cling to her back.

I managed to get myself to sit up despite the burning in my chest. Carefully, with my teeth tightly clasped together, I pulled Katara onto the bed. She didn't stir at all; she must have been exhausted. It wasn't all that great, but I did my best to scoot over on the bed to give her a decent amount of space.

By the time I was finished moving her my body was so tired I couldn't find it in myself to move again to pull a pillow from behind my back for her to rest on. I just collapsed. Again.

X X X **Katara** X X X

I remember vaguely hearing Sokka's voice and movement. It felt like I was floating in nothingness for awhile, then my foot would touch the ground, then more floating, and then ground again.

"…pretty chummy to me." It sounded like Toph.

Suddenly I felt warm and like my back was stretching and relaxing. It was nice so I let the feeling wash over me until I was dreaming again.

When I woke up it wasn't as pleasant. 

I could hear shouts of pain in the palace, somewhere nearby. "Miss Katara! Please, the Fire Lord needs your help!"

A guard suddenly pulled me out of bed. "Fire Lord?" That couldn't be right.

In no time I had pinned the guard to the floor. Unfortunately, that was when I remembered that the war was over. At least, that was what General Iroh announced while I had been taking care of Zuko.

"Agh—! AHHHH!"

My eyes widened, and I released the guard immediately. "Zuko…"

My feet hit the ground faster than my mind could keep up. When I swung around a corner toward where I guessed his room and his shouting were I saw Aang and Sokka running too.

Zuko wasn't healed yet. Even if it wasn't in his spine, like Aang, he had still been shot by lightning.

I didn't even look at the others as I ran into the room. I barely stopped myself from pulling Iroh away from the bed as I got to work. The water basin was still there, so I generously coated my hands in the water.

But his body was shaking.

"Somebody hold him!" I ordered over his screaming. An earthbender, not sure if it was Aan or Toph or someone else entirely, used cuffs made of the palace's ground to restrain him. Both my hands went straight to his chest and I almost choked realizing just how close the lightning had been to his heart.

I must have been so tired I missed it. I knew it had been close but not so close that it was more dangerous than I anticipated.

"Deep breath," I instructed both Zuko and myself. Some of the water slid through the pores on his body and he twitched upward almost making me lose my focus. "C'mon…" It slowly began to sew and heal the tears and burns inside and outside.

This was going to be a long process, but I needed to focus on at least taking away the majority of his pain.

My eyes shut heavily as I focused wholly on healing Zuko. More than anything I had to feel where my water was going and what it was doing. His heart rate began to slow down. I heard the crack of earth being pushed back to the ground.

When my eyes opened Zuko was looking at me with tears in the corners of his eyes. Past the pain, the gratitude was clear.

With a sigh of relief, I bent the water back to the bowl. I placed my hand carefully against his forward. He had a fever. "I have you. Don't worry."

His body shook and I saw a vulnerability that I hadn't since Ba Sing Sei. "Don't leave," Zuko whispered so softly I barely caught it.

My head shook in answer before I could form the words. I leaned down and blew on his forehead, crystallizing some of the already accumulating sweat to cool him down.

Knowing his body was better I finally had the chance to realize tears were falling from my eyes. I took a deep breath again and straightened up before wiping my eyes.

I turned around to Iroh, Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Suki's staring eyes. I gave them a weak smile. Aang took a step forward and looked like he was about to speak, but I beat him to it. "When he redirected the lightning it stopped inside of him instead of directing it out like he taught you, Aang. It got really close to his heart."

General Iroh's voice cracked when he asked, "Is my nephew going to be alright?"

"Yeah," I nodded quickly. I knew it was true but the fear of making another mistake and causing Zuko more pain still shook me. "I will need some burn medicine. Healing is taking a lot out of me and I have to mostly work on internal injuries so I want to focus my bending on that as much as possible."

Sokka nodded with a firm frown. "I'll get the medicine."

"Are you going to have to stay here all night?" Aang finally asked.

I nodded. "It looks that way." My attention went back to Zuko who, though weak, was still very aware. While our eyes met I kept addressing the others. "I want to make sure he's stable before I can even think about switching to checking in on him regularly."

"In that case," the old man's voice broke in. "I think it would be best to switch Zuko to the Fire Lord's chambers earlier. It is a large room with places for you to rest if you grow weary from all the hard work."

My stomach tightened and growled loudly.

"Hungry, Sugar Queen?" Toph's eyebrows quirked up in amusement.

I chuckled nervously. "I guess I forgot to eat.

X X X **Z** X X X

Katara's cool hand was a welcome relief on my chest, but whenever she tried to cool down my face for the fever I couldn't help but want to swat her away. If it weren't for the constant burning at my center, I'd say the chill was too uncomfortable to be worth the trouble.

I could see the sky outside from my new room, but I didn't need to see the moon's position to know it was probably somewhere around four in the morning. The room was cooler than Fire Nation weather would normally allow during summer. Even with the temperature shifts my body was undergoing, I could tell the day was at its coldest point.

She stayed awake all night for a second day just to make sure I was all right. "You should sleep," I told her, hating how weak my voice sounded. She didn't answer immediately and I wondered if my voice had been so soft it didn't even carry to her. "Katara."

"You should be sleeping, not me." Her voice was even as she kept working. "You're the one that got hurt, not me." She didn't look at me as she spoke, but that didn't mean I wasn't watching her. I didn't miss the frown.

I found myself mimicking her frown. "You could have died if I hadn't."

Her neck tightened. Again, she was silent for a while before answering. "I know," she whispered.

My arm felt heavy as I moved it up and touched her hands through the water. Out of shock she stopped bending and caused a puddle to form on my front and on my sheets.

Her eyes locked with mine and I felt hyper-aware of my breathing and heartbeat. "After Ba Sing Sei I wished you would die." Her voice was soft and shaky. I wasn't surprised by her confession. There hasn't been a day since then that I don't regret my decision. Even when I had just come home with Azula, I couldn't shake her eyes staring at me angrily from betrayal. "Right now, I almost felt your heart stop in my hands."

I squeezed her hands and did my best to smile. "But you didn't. We're even now." Her eyes widened and a fresh set of tears flowed from them again. "My whole life I thought fate was constantly against me, that luck would never be on my side. I was destined to meet the avatar, but, Katara," I paused and pulled her right hand closer to me. "If it wasn't for you none of us would be here. You saved Aang and me both from Azula's lightning."

She ducked her head down but I continued speaking. "You changed my life forever. I don't think I would have gotten on the right side before it was too late if you hadn't been challenging everything I believed in since our first fight. You wanting me dead back then—though that sucks to hear, I get it. I betrayed you. But if Azula, or my father, or anyone else tried to strike you with lightning again I wouldn't think twice before about saving you again.

"I'm lucky to have met you. You helped me realize the man I was supposed to be and brought me close to the family I was supposed to have."

Her face was bright red but Katara smiled now. "Idiot," she mumbled. With her left hand she tucked her hair behind her ear. I almost grinned like Sokka when he laughs at his own jokes when I noticed she didn't pull her hand back. "Don't just say stuff like that."

"Sorry," I chuckled.

Pushing past the embarrassing heart-to-heart she turned her head to look out the window. When she faced me again she had on the very demanding, maternal stare she'd perfected at the temple. "You should still sleep, you know," she said.

"So should you."

She gave the hand that was still holding hers a pointed look, but I pretended not to notice. She sighed and bent the remaining water that had fallen on the bed and me back to the water basin with her one hand.

"Well," she said avoiding eye contact. "I guess I should stay nearby in case something happens again." I knew I was the one blushing this time. "It would be easier for me to check on your vitals the closer I was."

Katara pulled her hand away, and crawled over me awkwardly to the empty side of the bed. I looked out the window and noticed the sky was beginning to turn pink. We stayed up all the way to the morning.

Her face against my shoulder shocked me into looking at her again. She was lying on her side, eyes forced shut, and her face was beet red. "Goodnight, Zuko."

I stayed on my back and relaxed into the mattress. "Goodnight, Katara."

X X X END X X X

An:/ Aughhhhhh! It's done! Again, a day late. I'm never buying hot dogs at the movies ever again. But yay! It's finished. Hopefully I get the third in before the day's up, but we'll see what happens. I hope you all enjoy my entry for day 2 of Zutara week! Again, I didn't have the time to go back and proofread, so I hope everything is okay.


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